Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Totally Greenwashed: The Body Shop


I love The Body Shop. Their products always smell good and my skin feels good when I use them. They claim that their products are all “natural”. Through their website, icons and slogans of world- protection can be found such as “support community trading”, “against animal testing”, “protect our planet”, “defend human rights” and “activate self-esteem”.

The website is currently promoting a kind of body lotion called 100% biodegradable shower gel. They emphasize that it meets the eco-conscious standard. Its ingredients are not only non-toxic to aquatic organisms, but also able to minimize packaging waste. In other words, this product is to help protecting our environment.

However, a media controversy about The Body Shop was held after being taken over by L’Oreal in 2006. It was disclosed that L’Oreal often tests their products on animal before selling to the public. This goes against the core value of The Body Shop – “against animal testing”. Although L’Oreal tried to address the problem through the media, boycotts by customers still emerge around the globe. (wikipedia)

In 2009, Guardian.co.uk wrote an article to criticize The Body Shop. It states,
“Daabon Organics, a Colombian firm that provides the British chain with 90% of all its palm oil, was part of a consortium that asked the courts to remove farmers from a sprawling ranch 320km north of the capital Bogotá with a plan to grow African palm. Police in riot gear evicted the farmers in July.” “Some locals had lived and worked on the land for more than 10 years and had already applied for the right to own it under Colombian law before the consortium bought it.”
This actually confounds The Body Shop because it has a strong commercial relationship with Daabon: 7.5 million bars of soap made from Daabon’s oil are produced every year. It once again violates the core values of The Body Shop – “support community trading” and “defend human rights”. By 2010, The Body Shop wrote on its website that they attempt to use wood from responsibly managed sources, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) if it is possible. Is The Body Shop really taking action on this claim? At this point, I could not see any action being taken yet.

Although there are many “green” information appeared on its website, The Body Shop does not clarify how green their products really are. By labeling as “Natural”, “Organic”, or “Eco-conscious”, it gives the impression to consumers that their products are made from natural ingredients. But in fact, these labels are meaningless without elaboration. Besides, The Body Shop has its own eco-conscious standard symbol which looks more trustworthy at first glance. With this symbol, their products are urged to meet non-toxic, strict biodegradability standard, and limit packaging waste. The truth is that this eco-conscious standard does not comply with the international standard, and it is not supporting by any certification. It is just the standard of The Body Shop itself. This symbol is misleading people who desire to save the planet. Therefore, I consider that The Body Shop has been practicing greenwashing.

To be a smart consumer, you may want to read “Seven Sins of Greenwashing”.

4 comments:

  1. This blog entry is really revealing however it is not very surprising. Of course the Body Shop advertises that they use natural ingredients becasue that is what currently sells. The company's marketing staff may be aware of the "green revolution" but it does not follow that they are actually doing somthing about it.

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  2. Hi Stephanie,

    I think think this is a great analysis of The Body Shop's marketing of "natural." I wonder who regulates The Body Shop's claims (or suggestions), if anyone. I actually wasn't aware that Loreal took it over. That's just odd for the reasons you mentioned.

    I am glad I found your blog.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Shop at Lush. They were the first major retailer to remove palm oil from all of its products. After a shocking and heart breaking trip to see where we bought our palm oil from, Lush halted production until a safe, green alternative was found. They developed an (ethically sourced) coconut oil and a (non-monoculture) rapeseed oil bases for all of is soaps. The recipe for this soap base is available for any retailer or corporation to use, free of charge, as Lush doesn't think that there should be a cost for helping the environment. Their soaps are handmade, using little or no preservatives and are sold 'naked' (packaging free). Lush has never and will never test on animals, they test their products on humans and makes sure that EVERY SINGLE ONE of their suppliers that they buy off of do not test on animals either. They deplore greenwashing, empty promises and false claims. As of 2012, Lush is 100% Vegetarian, 80% Vegan, 67% unpreserved, 46% packaging free.

    This is their mission:

    We Believe…
    In making effective products from fresh organic* fruits and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics.

    We believe in buying ingredients only from companies that do not commission tests on animals and testing our products on humans.

    We invent our own products and fragrances, we make them fresh by hand using little or no preservatives or packing, using only vegetarian ingredients and tell you when they were made.

    We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud.

    We believe in long candlelit baths, sharing showers, massage, filling the world with perfume and in the right to make mistakes, lose everything and start again.

    We believe our products are good value, that we should make a profit and that the customer is always right.

    *We also believe words like “fresh” and “organic” have an honest meaning beyond marketing.

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